What Does Forward Mean on Instagram Story Insights?
In Instagram Story insights, Forward is the number of times viewers tapped the right side of the screen to skip ahead to the next frame of your Story. It counts taps, not people, and it sits in each frame’s Navigation section beside Back, Next Story and Exited.
A huge Forward number usually means nothing bad. The viewer is still watching you, just faster than you planned; Next Story and Exited are the numbers that cost you viewers. Below: the four numbers side by side, a frame-by-frame forward rate, and the one large public benchmark. (Instagram calls each photo or video in a Story “a story”; this page calls them frames.)
Did someone “forward” your Story to a friend in a DM? That’s a share, not a Forward: the difference is further down.
Table of Contents
- What Does Forward Mean on Instagram Story Insights? The Navigation Table
- Where to Find Forward in Your Story Insights
- How to Calculate and Read Your Forward Rate
- What Is a Good Forward Rate? The One Public Benchmark
- Is a High Number of Forwards Bad?
- How to Cut Forward Taps Without Padding Your Story
- Can You See Who Tapped Forward on Your Story?
- Forwarding a Story in a DM Is a Share, Not a Forward
- Story Insights Terms That Sit Next to Forward
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Does Forward Mean on Instagram Story Insights? The Navigation Table
Forward is one of four navigation counts Instagram gives every frame, and each one records a different gesture. Two keep the viewer with you; two lose them.
| Metric | What the viewer did | Where they ended up | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Tapped the right side of the screen | Your next frame (on your last frame, the next account’s Stories) | Still watching, just moving faster than your pacing |
| Back | Tapped the left side | Your previous frame | That frame deserved a second look, or went by too fast |
| Next Story | Swiped left | The next account’s Stories, skipping the rest of yours | Gone for the rest of this Story |
| Exited | Left Stories, for example by swiping down | Out of Stories altogether | The strongest drop-off signal |
Meta’s developer documentation for Instagram media insights files all four under one metric, navigation, “the total number of actions taken from your story,” and names each by gesture: TAP_FORWARD, TAP_BACK, SWIPE_FORWARD for Next Story, and TAP_EXIT. Two things follow:
- They count actions, not accounts. A viewer who goes back to a frame and taps forward again adds two Forwards to it.
- Forward only counts taps. A frame that plays to the end moves on by itself and adds nothing to Forward, so a low count can mean people watched it through. Read it next to Exited.
In the wild, the word turns up on Stories (“tap forward for the recipe”) and in team chats (“frame 4 got 80% forwards, cut the text”).
Next Story vs Forward: The Pair Everyone Mixes Up
Forward keeps the viewer inside your Story; Next Story takes them out of it. A Forward tap on frame 3 plays your frame 4. A swipe on frame 3 jumps to someone else’s Stories, and your frames 4 onward never play for that person. The one overlap is your last frame: a Forward there also lands on the next account, but by then they’ve seen everything, so it’s a finish, not a skip.
Where to Find Forward in Your Story Insights
Open the Story, swipe up, switch to insights and scroll to Navigation. According to Instagram’s Help Center page on Story insights, you need a public account, personal or professional, to see insights, and a Story’s insights stay available for up to two years, long after the Story itself disappears at 24 hours.
- While the Story is live: open it and swipe up. You land on the list of viewers; switch to the insights tab and scroll down to Navigation.
- After it expires: from your profile, open your insights, find the Story among your content, and open it. On a computer, Instagram’s route is View insights on your profile, then the Story under Top content based on engagement.
- Go frame by frame: each photo or video has its own insights, so note Views, Forward and Exited for every frame.
Using a third-party dashboard? Meta’s API serves Story metrics for only 24 hours and withholds any metric under 5, so tools must capture them while the Story is live. Meta also deprecated the old TAPS_FORWARD, TAPS_BACK and EXITS metrics as “duplicative” in late 2023; the same counts now come through navigation, so older exports use different names.
How to Calculate and Read Your Forward Rate
Forward rate = Forwards ÷ Views of that frame × 100, and exit rate works the same way with Exits. That’s the formula Socialinsider uses for the benchmark below (“number of forward-taps divided by total views”), so your rates line up with its numbers. Divide by Views, which Instagram defines as “the number of times your story was played or displayed,” not by Viewers, the unique accounts. Older guides divide by impressions, the metric Views replaced.
A Worked Example, Frame by Frame
Here’s a six-frame Story with illustrative numbers:
| Frame | What’s on it | Views | Forwards | Forward rate | Exits | Exit rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6-second video hook | 1,000 | 520 | 52% | 210 | 21% |
| 2 | Photo, one line of text | 690 | 420 | 61% | 110 | 16% |
| 3 | 15-second how-to clip | 560 | 300 | 54% | 80 | 14% |
| 4 | 80-word text slide | 480 | 400 | 83% | 62 | 13% |
| 5 | Poll sticker | 440 | 180 | 41% | 57 | 13% |
| 6 | ”Thanks for watching” | 340 | 200 | 59% | 44 | 13% |
Read it like this:
- Look for the outlier, not the average. Frames 1 to 3 sit between 52% and 61%; frame 4 jumps to 83%. People are skimming the text slide.
- Read Forward and Exited together. Frame 4’s exit rate holds at 13%, so viewers skipped the text but stayed. Shorten it; don’t cut the Story.
- Notice what slows people down. The poll on frame 5 pulls Forward down to 41%, because voting takes a moment.
- Treat the last frame differently. Frame 6’s Forwards are people finishing.
- Measure how many make it to the end. Instagram doesn’t report a completion rate for Stories, but last-frame Views ÷ first-frame Views gives you one: 340 ÷ 1,000 = 34%.
- Distrust tiny samples. With 40 views on a frame, one tap moves the rate by 2.5 points.
What Is a Good Forward Rate? The One Public Benchmark
Anywhere from about half to two-thirds of views is normal. Instagram publishes no benchmark for any navigation metric. The largest public one is Socialinsider’s 2025 Instagram Stories Benchmarks, published in June 2025, which analyzed 161,180 Stories posted by active brands in January to May of 2024 and of 2025. Its tap-forward rates:
| Followers | Image frames | Video frames |
|---|---|---|
| 1K–5K | 56.8% | 50.5% |
| 5K–10K | 66.7% | 52.3% |
| 10K–50K | 63.7% | 56.0% |
| 50K–100K | 63.6% | 62.0% |
| 100K–1M | 66.0% | 58.0% |
Its exit rate by position in the Story: 23.8% on the first frame, 20.5% on the second, 18.5% on the third, 15.7% on the fourth, 13.3% on the ninth and 12.5% on the fifteenth.
Three readings:
- Images get tapped forward more than video in every tier, most likely because a still frame can be taken in at a glance. Compare image frames with image frames.
- Frame 1 loses the most people. Exits fall from 23.8% to the mid-teens by frame 4, partly because the viewers inclined to leave already have. Fix frame 1 first.
- It’s a sanity check, not a target. Brands only, two years pooled, a third party’s numbers; your own median frame is the better baseline. Forward rate is a diagnostic for building Stories, not a report metric, and our guide to social media KPIs covers what belongs in a report.
Is a High Number of Forwards Bad?
Usually not: a Forward means the viewer is still with you. In Socialinsider’s data, more than half of views ended in a forward tap in every follower tier and format, so a big Forward count often just means a big audience. It’s a problem in three cases:
- One frame spikes above the others. That frame is being skimmed, like frame 4 above.
- The frame needs time. Text, a how-to step, a product detail or a link sticker you want tapped. A Forward there means the message didn’t land.
- Forward climbs frame after frame. The Story is running longer than the interest.
Does it hurt your reach? Instagram has never said. The only description of Stories ranking it has published, from May 2023, names viewing history, engagement history and closeness, all about each viewer’s existing relationship with you. No published source ties forward taps to reach.
How to Cut Forward Taps Without Padding Your Story
Give every frame one job and a reason to stay on it.
- One idea per frame. Split an 80-word text slide into two short frames, or cut it to a line.
- Lead with the point. Put the headline where the eye lands first, and trim the dead air before a clip gets going.
- Add a pause where you want one. A poll, quiz, slider or question sticker only works if the viewer stays on the frame, which is why frame 5 slowed down.
- Put the ask early. Every frame loses some viewers, so a link sticker on frame 3 reaches more people than the same sticker on frame 9.
- Stop sooner, or change format. If Forward climbs across the back half, end earlier. Reference material often works better as a carousel on Instagram, which people swipe at their own pace and which stays on your profile.
Timing decides how many people see frame 1; the frames decide how many stay. For the first half of that, see the best time to post on Instagram.
Planning Stories ahead? Outfeed AI publishes Instagram posts, Reels and Stories from a chat message and shows a preview before anything goes out, which is a good moment to check that each frame has one job.
Can You See Who Tapped Forward on Your Story?
No. Forward, Back, Next Story and Exited are anonymous totals. You can see who watched: Instagram’s own guide to using Stories says to open an active Story and “swipe up on the screen to see the full list of viewers.” Nothing shows which of those viewers skipped, went back or left. Meta’s API returns totals only, so an app promising to show you who skipped your Story isn’t getting that from Instagram.
Forwarding a Story in a DM Is a Share, Not a Forward
If someone sent your Story to a friend, it counts as a share, not a Forward. Instagram groups shares with replies, sticker taps and link taps under Interactions in Story insights. And what does forward mean on Instagram outside insights? In DMs, it means passing a message on to another chat. Neither touches your Forward count.
Story Insights Terms That Sit Next to Forward
- Views and Viewers: plays of a frame versus the unique accounts that saw it. Use Views for rates.
- Interactions: replies, shares, sticker taps and link taps on a Story.
- Highlight: a Story saved to your profile beyond its 24 hours.
- Reel: Instagram’s short-video format, measured in views and watch time rather than taps. Here’s what Reels are and how they differ from Stories.
For more of the jargon behind your numbers, see the Outfeed AI social media glossary.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Forward mean on Instagram Story insights?
Forward is the number of times viewers tapped the right side of the screen to skip ahead to the next frame of your Story. It counts taps, not people, and sits in each frame’s Navigation section with Back, Next Story and Exited. Viewers who let a frame play out and advance on its own aren’t counted.
What is the difference between Forward and Next Story on Instagram?
Forward is a tap to your next frame, so the viewer stays in your Story. Next Story is a swipe to the next account’s Stories that skips the rest of yours. A Forward is usually harmless; a Next Story loses that viewer for the rest of the Story.
What does Exited mean on an Instagram Story?
Exited counts the times viewers left Stories altogether from that frame, instead of moving on to your next frame or another account. It’s the strongest drop-off signal in Story insights. The first frame usually has the highest exit rate: 23.8% in Socialinsider’s 2025 study of brand Stories.
What does Back mean on Instagram Story insights?
Back counts taps on the left side of the screen that return the viewer to your previous frame. It usually means that frame was worth a second look, or went by too fast to read. Unlike Next Story and Exited, a Back tap keeps the viewer inside your Story.
Can you see who tapped forward on your Instagram Story?
No. Instagram reports Forward, Back, Next Story and Exited only as totals for each frame. You can see who viewed an active Story by swiping up on it, but not which viewers skipped, went back or left. Meta’s API returns totals only, so an app promising that list isn’t getting it from Instagram.
What is a good forward rate for Instagram Stories?
Instagram publishes no benchmark. The largest public one, Socialinsider’s 2025 study of 161,180 brand Stories, found tap-forward rates between about 50% and 67% of views, higher for image frames than video. Anything in that range is normal; compare each frame with your own other frames to find the weak one.